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Double Dose


          Let all creation rejoice before the Lord, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his faithfulness. (Psalm 96:10)
         let them sing before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity. (Psalm 98:9)
          Since at least the first half of today’s passages are effectively the same, we’ll address them together. There are two kinds of people in the world: those who divide people into two kinds, and those who don’t. There are two kinds of people in the world: those who rejoice at the thought of God coming to judge the world, and those who don’t. There are three kinds of people in the world: those who fear God’s judgment, those who resent it, and those who welcome it.
          Scripture acknowledges the two perspectives of God’s judgment. There are places where the “day of the Lord” is described as wonderful. Isaiah 4:2 describes it as beautiful and glorious. Isaiah 13:9 describes it as a cruel day, with wrath and anger. The difference, a friend has suggested, is in the beholder. If you see the police showing up to break up a fight and arrest a bully/abuser, you’ll probably cheer – unless you are the bully/abuser or are closely connected or codependent with the bully/abuser. More than once in the past few years, I’ve heard the relatives of someone who had been killed while trying to rob a home owned by a person who owned and used a gun. The relatives seemed to have the opinion that the homeowner was a bad person who took away their good someone. I expect there will be a lot of that among part of those who face judgment:
          “He doesn’t deserve…”
          “She’s the victim …”
          “There’s nothing wrong with what I did!”
          “Ha, he/she did worse than I did!”
          Some folks even believe that when the judgment time comes, they’ll be judging themselves. They admit that they intend to be more than an little lenient in some areas.
          But we’ll run across Jesus coming to judge at least once more before we’re through with this list. If we play a part in that judgment, it will be to confess our guilt, or (if we are foolish) to claim innocence or justification to the Omniscient One.
          In a sense, He has already passed judgment. It has been passed since before time began, and it was passed at the cross. It will be passed one final time on the Day of the Lord. I hope I’m one of those who will rejoice, not because “they’re finally getting theirs!” but because justice will be done.

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